Access Point Issue

[zachary-wang12]

I have an RPi 3B+ running the Debian lite system, downloaded from the official website, and configuring the access point as described in the https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/blob/master/configuration/wireless/access-point.md. However, when I configured the file /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf and /etc/default/hostapd, the service cannot start. Here are the information:

Failed to start hostapd.service: Unit hostapd.service is masked.

Then, I used the command sudo hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf, and the information is:

Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Failed to create interface mon.wlan0: -95 (Operation not supported)
wlan0: Could not connect to kernel driver
Using interface wlan0 with hwaddr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx and ssid "RaspberryPi"
wlan0: interface state UNINITIALIZED->ENABLED
wlan0: AP-ENABLED

All the other configuration are the same as the documents in your tutorial.
Here are my ifconfig output, and I can get internet access via eth0:

eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx  netmask xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx  broadcast xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
        inet6 xxxx::xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 9533  bytes 613526 (599.1 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 1  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 435  bytes 54436 (53.1 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 357  bytes 42306 (41.3 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 357  bytes 42306 (41.3 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlan0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 30  bytes 4694 (4.5 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

Could you please tell me how can I solve this problem? Thank you very much

[XECDesign]

Duplicate of #1093 ?

[zachary-wang12]

Duplicate of #1093 ?

Maybe not the same issue

[zachary-wang12]

Duplicate of #1093 ?

After I execute the solution for #1093, the problem is still the same.

[XECDesign]

What's the content of /etc/default/hostapd?

EDIT: Actually, I don't think that matters. I'll have to run through the instructions and see what happens.

[zachary-wang12]

What's the content of /etc/default/hostapd?

EDIT: Actually, I don't think that matters. I'll have to run through the instructions and see what happens.
The /etc/default/hostapd file is shown below:

# Defaults for hostapd initscript
#
# See /usr/share/doc/hostapd/README.Debian for information about alternative
# methods of managing hostapd.
#
# Uncomment and set DAEMON_CONF to the absolute path of a hostapd configuration
# file and hostapd will be started during system boot. An example configuration
# file can be found at /usr/share/doc/hostapd/examples/hostapd.conf.gz
#
DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf"

# Additional daemon options to be appended to hostapd command:-
#       -d   show more debug messages (-dd for even more)
#       -K   include key data in debug messages
#       -t   include timestamps in some debug messages
#
# Note that -B (daemon mode) and -P (pidfile) options are automatically
# configured by the init.d script and must not be added to DAEMON_OPTS.
#
#DAEMON_OPTS=""

[akdigitalcss]

Exact same issue for me

What's the content of /etc/default/hostapd?
EDIT: Actually, I don't think that matters. I'll have to run through the instructions and see what happens.
The /etc/default/hostapd file is shown below:

# Defaults for hostapd initscript
#
# See /usr/share/doc/hostapd/README.Debian for information about alternative
# methods of managing hostapd.
#
# Uncomment and set DAEMON_CONF to the absolute path of a hostapd configuration
# file and hostapd will be started during system boot. An example configuration
# file can be found at /usr/share/doc/hostapd/examples/hostapd.conf.gz
#
DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf"

# Additional daemon options to be appended to hostapd command:-
#       -d   show more debug messages (-dd for even more)
#       -K   include key data in debug messages
#       -t   include timestamps in some debug messages
#
# Note that -B (daemon mode) and -P (pidfile) options are automatically
# configured by the init.d script and must not be added to DAEMON_OPTS.
#
#DAEMON_OPTS=""

Did you ever get this resolved I am having the exact same issue. I have spent the past 3 days even using some of the older lite builds and nothing but issues.

Failed to start hostapd.service: Unit hostapd.service is masked.

Is where I am getting stuck at, even after unmasking the service it still does not fix the issue so instead I am trying to focus on WHY its failing to start in the first place.

[XECDesign]

Unmasking the service worked for me.

What's the output of the following commands?

sudo systemctl status hostapd
sudo systemctl unmask hostapd
sudo systemctl start hostapd
sudo systemctl status hostapd
sudo journalctl -u hostapd